Good question! Piecing is the way you sew the fabric pieces together to make the top, and quilting is the part of the process where you stitch all three layers (top, middle fluff, and back) together. It's kind of the equivalent of top-stitching. On this quilt you see it as the larger, bright stitches that run in rows across the quilt.

I never tire of admiring your gorgeous quilts, creating so much beauty from the little scraps and relying on your artistic eye rather than modern designer fabrics. Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about your process like you did when you made the square patchworks a while back. Does your mother do the quilting with thread or is it floss? Does she mark her lines in advance or is she so expert she just sets off across the wild yonder in confidence? And your obvious mastery of the log cabin - any tips? You two are such a marvelous team!

Thanks, Kimberlee. My mother does the quilting with three squares of embroidery floss--the color choices are so rich with floss. Since the quilts are pieced in two-inch strips and she's quilting down the middle of them, she just eyeballs the line to quilt. Also, we don't mind a little bit of quirk!

As to design, I usually start out by choosing the color of the center square. That is always the same in each block. Traditionally it was red, but I find that I want to tell other color stories too. I often work from dark to light, and I like the squares to be generally the same but absolutely with some variation to keep the eye rested. I think I'll do a whole post about that!

Feel free to Pin my photos, but please link back to the page you found them on.

Photography

Photography is an important part of life at my house. Photos that appear here are taken by Giles, by the Composer, and by me. Giles is a real, paid photographer, and he uses a Sony Alpha. Most of the photography prior to September 2008 is his. Since then I have done most of the shooting and I use a Konica Minolta. Additionally, the Composer offers me nice shots on occasion, often from his little Canon point and shoot. I've given up trying to note who's done what. Thanks for your interest!